Death Knell
by Earless
Summary: After Hermione is mysteriously pulled into the veil, she discovers Death Knell; A desert ghost town where the accused sit in purgatory, waiting to be free from their hot and dusty prison. Can she find Sirius before it's to late?  Note: Not religious.
1. Admittance

Disclaimer: If you think Hermione and company belong to me, you may be delusional. If I made money from this I would probably buy WWOHP, and live out my fantasies there, instead of on here.

I loosely based the idea for this fan fiction on _Book of Eli, _several westerns and an obsession with the idea of a zombie apocalypse. Rated M for later chapters.

Hermione leaned precariously close to the arch of the veil, her fingers skimming the edge of the dark stone that created it. She felt for small indentations in the rock, indicating runes that had been carved minutely into its surface.

Whoever had created the veil was a genius. The complexity of the runes was unimaginable. Fortunately Hermione was never one for imagination, she believed everything could be dissected and broken down through logic. And that was exactly what she was doing to the veil.

After Voldemort's downfall she had become obsessed with ancient runes. The books she had 'borrowed' from Dumbledore's office went into even greater detail than she had thought possible. Drawing her into a world full of symbols and mystery- and she was determined to solve every last one of them. Her latest inquiry was that of the veil. And while some disapproved, others encouraged her to do her best.

Ron was one who disapproved. He had expected Hermione to teach, have a few kids, then relax with him on a porch and watch them grow up. She had more important things to do, that had been the catalyst in their relationship. Ron had proposed, she said no.

She had accepted a position in the Department of Mysteries as a Rune Breaker. Much like a curse breaker, but instead of breaking curses on old tombs, she was solving old runic puzzles and putting fact into old myths and legends every day.

Her research on the veil had kept her going for nearly a year. She delved into its origins and history. She was determined to understand it and possibly reverse its effects.

But first she needed to examine the veil and find out what runes were written on it.

Hermione traced the rune for fire with her fingertips, before reaching for her quill and scratching it onto the parchment floating beside her.

It had taken her a year to convince Kingsley, who was now the Minister, to let her examine the veil. In that time she had literally done all the theory she could. Her small flat was stacked to the brim with books and parchment full of her research. It was heaven- for her anyway.

But while she had been in the death room every day for nearly a month, she would never get used to it.

The curtains on the archway had been removed, and there was an unnatural breeze in the air, hot and dry. This was extremely strange in the dark and damp bowels of the Ministry.

Hermione scratched more notes beside her copy of the ruin, so engrossed in her work that she didn't hear the footsteps behind her.

"Are you going to stay here all night?" Harry asked, startling her out of her concentration.

She squeaked and her hand flew to her heart in fright. "Oh Harry- don't scare me!"

Harry smiled sympathetically, "Well, if you need a change of setting there's a dinner party over at the Weasleys"

Hermione avoided eye contact, a certain redhead was still a touchy subject with her, "I don't know…"

"Ron isn't there. He's off touring with the Cannons. We're celebrating Teddy's birthday, you know how much he loves to see you."

She perked up a little at this. She hadn't seen Teddy in a few weeks at least, nor any of her friends aside from Harry, who constantly plagued her at work.

"Alright, I'll pack up and head over in a half hour" she sighed.

He grinned "Great! You better show up- I'll come drag you from here if I have to."

Hermione made a big show of piling up her papers as he left, laughing. She gently fingered her notes, glancing about the room.

She knew it was hard on Harry to be in here. He still had dreams about Sirius, falling through the veil that night so long ago. He put on a good show, visiting her in the death room, but the light always disappeared out of his eyes whenever it was mentioned.

Hermione shoved the stopper into her ink jar and tucked it into her bag followed by her notes and quill. She took one final glance towards the arch-_What was that?_

She dropped everything, her bag falling off the dais and spilling everything onto the cold floor.

There was a glint of gold coming from the arch, Hermione took a step forward. It looked like a bubble of gold goo, spurting out from the center of the arch. She reached out to touch it, her fingers grazed the warm swirling gold and the substance shot out engulfing her hand and pulling her into the archway.

Hermione screamed, frantically tugging at her trapped hand. She braced herself against the stone of the arch. The goo bubbled up around her elbow, and she watched in horror as her limb disappeared into thin air.

"HARRY!" she screamed hoarsely, attempting to shove it off with her other hand, but the goo latched onto it too, tugging her forward.

"HERMIONE!" Harry shouted as he came running into the chamber wand drawn, ready for battle.

He was shocked at the sight before him. Hermione was chest deep into the veil, bubbling gold goo wrapping itself around her, pulling her in.

He ran towards her, jumping onto the dais. He grasped desperately at her shoulder as her body slowly melted into the air.

"HERMIONE, NO-PLEASE- NOT YOU TOO!" The pull of the goo was to strong and she slipped out of his grasp.

There was a flash of bright light as she dissolved. The gold goo was gone; it was like it wasn't even there.

Harry dropped to his knees in despair "Not you too…" he whispered.

Can't wait for the next chapter? Excellent proof reading skills?

I'm in need of a beta reader.


	2. Contrast

Sorry I haven't updated in a while :P been busy. Just to for warn you. This has not been edited, so if you see any mistakes or weird wording, I apologize. Any who, enjoy (:

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPH

It was hot.

Hermione groaned, trying to open her eyes.

It was bright.

She wrenched her mouth open, taking a deep gasping breath.

It was dusty.

She rolled over coughing.

It was…quiet

Her eyes shot open, and she looked around frantically. There was nothing but sand dunes for miles.

_Had Sirius been here?_

She searched for signs of life on the horizon. There was nothing, the air in the distance convulsed from the heat.

_Merlin it was hot_.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPH**

Number two leaned casually against the rundown building he called home. The small shaded area was his only break from the never ending sun. There hadn't been darkness in death knell since _he _came.

He glared at the slumped figure in the square. Who was he to disregard the rules and disrespect the elders?

Not that there were any left-but that was the way it had always been. You abided by the laws the elders created or else. Number two grimaced, shifting his weight to his other leg.

The Dog had only been here for a minute amount of time in comparison to him. He was here when Death Knell was a flourishing valley- not that he remembered; he couldn't even remember his own name. It had been so long.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPH

86 turns. He had watched that bloody hourglass turn 86 times. Each turn representing one length of time. No one knew how long it took the sand to run through the glass bulbs, only that it was a very long time.

Not that time mattered here. Nothing changed, you don't age, you don't get hungry, you don't need water. You were stuck.

Although, Sirius mused, he was pretty sure that once he got out of this hell hole, he'd have a really nice tan.

The man that called himself number two swore violently and Sirius took this chance to worm his hands out of the rope that held him to the damn post. He would sit there until watch changed and then book it to The Edge.

Then something Duchess said caught his ear.

"Another one, do you think they'll have a wand?" she asked Number two in her nasal voice.

Crap, well there goes that plan, Sirius thought. He'd just have to wait here and see who it was. He laughed quietly to himself, oh how he hoped it was Snivellus.

"Go get them," Number Two ordered his goons. They stumbled around awkwardly before running off into the desert, kicking up a trail of dust behind them.

Sirius hoped to high heaven that it wasn't Harry.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

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